Harrah's Tahoe employee claims she was raped by Steelers QB

Jul. 21, 2009

Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger waits to tee off at the American Century Celebrity Golf Championship in this 2006 file photo. / AP file

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A former employee at Harrah’s Lake Tahoe casino has filed a lawsuit against Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger and Harrah’s management claiming the football star raped her while he was attending a celebrity golf tournament last year, and casino officials covered it up..

Messages left with a Harrah’s spokesman and with Roethlisberger’s lawyer David Cornwell were not immediately returned. Cornwell released a statement to several media outlets denying that the two-time Super Bowl winner had sexually assaulted anyone.

The woman, who was assigned to the Penthouse floor during the 2008 American Century Celebrity Golf Tournament last July, said Roethlisberger called her to his room claiming his television was not working, and forced her to have sex, the lawsuit said.

When she later told Harrah’s security chief Guy Hyder, the suit said, she was told that Harrah’s Tahoe casino president John Koster was close friends with Roethlisberger, and that “most girls would feel lucky to get to have sex with someone like Ben Roethlisberger,” and that “Koster would love you even more if he knew about this.”

The woman’s lawyer, Cal Dunlap, said in the suit that she fell into a deep depression after the alleged rape, and spent most of the last six months in and out of hospitals.

The suit, filed Friday in Washoe District Court, names Koster, Hyder, Dave Monroe, vice president of food and hotel operations, Mike Rosenow, vice president of human resources, Debbie Neall, Mark Masters, a security officer, and Stacy Dingman, a former director at Harrah’s.